The Shadow Queen
by Jay Legion
Summary: (On hiatus) The Twelfth Doctor receives a message from the Shadow Architect, who asks him to take a look on her home planet. Something is apparently very, very wrong there. The Doctor believes her and takes Clara with him to the Shadow Lands. The Tenth Doctor shows up in flashback scenes. Rated T for violent scenes
1. Prologue

**Because of the long wait for the new chapter of our other DW-fic, we decided to give you the first chapter of the DW-fic we mentioned before. We hope you like it, and of course, please fav/follow and RandR**

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The twelfth Doctor was busy with the machinery of his TARDIS, when he suddenly felt his psychic paper glow hot.

'What…?' he muttered.

He pulled it out of his pocket to see what was on it.

_Shadow Constellation_.  
_Come at once_.  
_S.A_.

'What is it, Doctor?' Clara asked, peeking over his shoulder.

'Look,' the Doctor said, showing her the psychic paper.

'Shadow Constellation…, come at once… S.A…. Who sent that?' Clara asked interested.

'The Shadow Architect. Have you ever been there?' the Doctor asked her.

'The Shadow Constellation? No, not that I recall,' Clara said, 'Why do you suppose he is asking you to come?'

'_She_ apparently has a problem and needs our help. I say it is worth having a look, don't you think?' the Doctor smiled.

Clara smiled. 'Sounds good to me.'

'Good,' the Doctor said and immediately set a course to the Shadow Constellation.

Only a minute later, the TARDIS landed with its wheezing and groaning sound.

The Doctor stepped outside, followed by Clara.

They looked around in the clean white hall, where a few white-haired, red-eyed figures were walking around. They all gazed in surprise at the blue box.

'Doctor?' an old female voice asked, 'Is that you?'

He turned to face her and smiled. 'Yes, new face.'

'New you….'

'Indeed.'

'And who's the young lady?' the Shadow Architect asked.

'I'm Clara Oswin Oswald,' Clara said with a smile, 'Pleasure to meet you.'

She looked at the Shadow Architect, an old woman with snow-white hair and big red eyes, wearing nothing but black clothes.

'Welcome to the Shadow Constellation, my dear. I am the Shadow Architect,' she said.

She gestured at the hallway behind her. 'Walk with me, if you please.'

Clara and the Doctor followed the woman into the hallway.

'So why did you ask me to come, madam?' the Doctor asked, 'I assume it is urgent….'

'It is,' the Shadow Architect said, 'You are familiar with my home planet, Doctor?'

'Yes, I have been in the Shadow Lands once before, at least five centuries ago.'

'You have?' Clara asked, 'I don't remember that.'

'I was in my tenth regeneration back then,' the Doctor said, 'And at that moment in-between companions. I met the young Dauphiness, a frail, blind, young woman.'

'She is Queen now,' the Shadow Architect said, 'Queen Nerenya, first of her name….'

'Oh, good for her.'

'Not really. She became Queen a fortnight after her father's death.'

'Ai… poor thing. How old was she?' the Doctor asked.

'Twenty eight centanni.'

'Which is how long ago?'

'Exactly one centannus in a week,' the Shadow Architect sighed.

'Excuse me, what is a centannus?' Clara asked.

'The Shadow People age a lot slower than humans or Time Lords for that matter,' the Doctor said, 'For them, one year is the same as a hundred years for us. Hence the name centannus.'

'Ah, makes sense.'

The Doctor smiled. 'Indeed. So what exactly is the problem, madam?'

'On the day of Nerenya's coronation, everything seemed to be fine,' the Shadow Architect said, 'Her Majesty retired early, but that was because she was simply exhausted. However, over night, every single person at that moment inside the Shadow Castle was forced to leave. For as far as I know only Nerenya and her personal servant are still inside. And ever since, the Black Gates have been sealed. No one has seen the Queen in a hundred years.'

'And you are afraid something is terribly wrong there,' the Doctor said.

The Shadow Architect nodded.

'Please go and have a look there. I am deeply worried. She's only a little girl.'

'I will,' the Doctor promised, 'I promised her I would come to visit her once more anyway.'

The old lady smiled gratefully. 'Thank you, Doctor.'

'So then,' Clara said, 'we're going to meet the Shadow Queen.'

'So it would seem, Clara,' the Doctor smiled.

They walked back to the TARDIS, accompanied by the Shadow Architect.

'It was brief, but a pleasure,' the Doctor said to her.

'Indeed, Doctor,' the Shadow Architect said, 'I am glad to see you are in good health and in good company.'

'Thank you,' Clara smiled and made a slight curtsy.

'We'll be off then,' the Doctor said and entered the TARDIS.

Clara quickly waved at the Shadow Architect and jumped inside as well.

'So we're going to the Shadow Lands then?' she asked.

The Doctor was already fully busy with all the gauges and gears.

'Yes, we are. The sooner we get there, the better.'

He smiled.

'What's she like, the Shadow Queen?' Clara asked.

'When she and I met, the Shadow Queen was still Nerenya, Dauphiness of the Shadow Lands, the Nethershadows and the Shady Isles. She is the gentlest soul I have ever met, but ever so frail, so breakable….'

'How come?' Clara asked curiously.

'Nerenya was born blind,' the Doctor sighed, 'She has never so much as set a foot outside the Shadow Castle. She wasn't allowed to.'

'Why not?'

'Her father, King Oberyon, has always been very protective of his only child. He would never let her even be alone. When he conquered the Nethershadows, he took the son of the Prince of the Nethershadows to live in the Shadow Castle and be his daughter's guide and personal servant. She never goes anywhere without him now. I can't remember the boy's name. I just remember him being a handsome young man with ginger curls and blue eyes.'

Clara smiled. 'Really?'

The Doctor smiled too.

'I remember the day she and I met well now,' he continued, 'but it's a rather long story. I promise I will tell you all about it later, okay?'

'Okay.' Clara smiled at him.

'Okay, then let's go.'

The TARDIS began making its wheezing and groaning sound as it disappeared from the Shadow Constellation and moved through space.

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**So, first chapter. Tell us what you think of it!**

**Here's a slight incentive for y'all: the young man mentioned by the Doctor, well... let's just say he grows up _very_ handsomely...**

******NB. ****If you guys would like to read fics based on other stuff, tell us and we'll see what we can do for you. It'll still be OC, but that's merely because we don't write anything else... Nevertheless, we have a wide variation of fics so the chance there's something in there that you guys like is quite big. We have put down a list of our fandoms in our profile, so, if you want to know what we write about and/or make a request, have a look! ^-^**


	2. 1

**Here's the second chapter for y'all. Hope you like it, and please, fav/follow and R&R! :D**

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**~O~ Insert Doctor Who intro here ~O~**

The TARDIS landed with its usual wheezing and groaning break sound.

Clara looked outside.

They had landed on the side of a street.

There were ordinary little houses on each side of the road. They looked old-fashioned and rather simple, but packed tightly together. The whole thing looked a bit medieval.

The streets were dark and abandoned. It appeared to be night.

'Where are we, Doctor?' Clara asked.

The Doctor looked outside as well.

'We should be in Umbrian,' the Doctor said, 'the capitol of the Shadow Lands.'

'But…?'

'But I don't see anyone. This is supposed to be a very lively city.'

They left the TARDIS and began to stroll down the street.

Soon enough however, a woman called out to them from her front door.

'Hey, you two! What are you doing outside past curfew?'

The Doctor immediately walked over to her, followed by Clara.

'Oh, I am so very glad to find you here, madam,' the Doctor said, 'If you don't mind me asking, since when has this curfew been active?'

'You're not from around here, then?' the woman asked, not unfriendly.

'Not really,' Clara said with a slight smile.

'Alright, come on in, then,' the woman said and held the door open for them.

'Thank you,' Clara said and took the Doctor's hand. 'Come on, Doctor!'

The Doctor smiled and followed her inside.

The woman introduced herself as Méav Dorval.

She made them sit down in her cosy little living room and sat down herself as well.

'So who are you, and what brings you to Umbrian?' Méav asked.

'Well, I'm the Doctor,' the Doctor said, 'and this is my companion, Clara.'

'The Doctor?' Méav asked, 'Doctor who?'

'Just the Doctor,' Clara said with a smile.

'Oh, all right then…' Méav said, 'Would you like a cup of tea?'

'That would be lovely,' Clara said.

'I'll be right back then,' Méav said and disappeared into her small kitchen.

'Ah… she hasn't changed a bit,' the Doctor said with a smile.

'Who? Méav?' Clara asked surprised.

'Yes…' the Doctor said, 'I remember her now, with all my memory loss, I am starting to remember small things from long ago.'

'You do?'

'Mhm. I remember things from the first time I was here. She was a maid in the palace.'

'A maid?' Clara asked.

'In the service of the Dauphiness,' the Doctor added.

A few moments later, Méav returned to the living room with a tray and three damping cups of tea.

'There you go,' she smiled while putting two of them in front of Clara and the Doctor.

'Thank you,' Clara smiled at her.

'So, where was I?' she muttered while sitting down, 'Oh yes, you were going to tell me what the two of you were doing here.'

'We… are here on request of the Shadow Architect,' the Doctor said, 'She asked us to find out what is wrong here.'

'The Shadow Architect?' Méav asked amazed, 'Really?'

'Yes. Do you know her?' the Doctor asked.

'Only by reputation. The Shadow Architect hasn't been around here in ages.'

'I know….'

'So you are here to investigate why the castle is empty…' Méav said softly.

'Yes…' Clara said, 'What can you tell us about that?'

'Let me think…. Ah, yes, I remember…. It was the day of Nerenya's coronation. Practically the entire kingdom was there to celebrate. The Dauphiness had never looked lovelier. She was crowned Queen of the Shadow Lands, Princess of the Nethershadows and Ruler of the Shady Isles at exactly three o'clock in the evening. After that, there was a massive celebration. Little Nerenya was tired…. I could see it in her face. So I suggested she would retire early. I remember her smiling and saying she was glad she was not the one to come up with that.'

Méav smiled at the memory.

'I informed everyone else the Queen had retired for the evening and then we continued to party. Close to midnight however, a strange trance fell over everyone. As one, we all stood up, packed our stuff and walked out of the palace, across the bridge into the city. We couldn't do anything. We could only obey. When we finally managed to snap out of it, the last thing we saw was Nerenya's personal servant closing the Black Gates, with a plain evil smile on his face. Oh, how we tried to get back in…. To no avail…. They were sealed.'

'Her servant did this?' the Doctor asked with a confused frown.

Méav nodded.

'I don't believe that. I've met the boy. He was the purest and gentlest soul I have ever met.'

'Yet, he was capable of powerful sorcery…' the maid whispered, 'I don't even know whether Nerenya is still alive. No one does….'

'We have to find a way to get into the palace,' Clara said determined, 'The Queen's life may depend on it!'

'Indeed,' the Doctor nodded.

He wanted to jump up and head back to the TARDIS immediately.

'Stay for the night, if you please,' Méav said to them, 'If Nerenya is alive, then she is asleep now. Plus, there is a curfew here. If the two of you are caught outside at this hour, you will face serious consequences….'

'Alright…' the Doctor said, 'I suppose one night more or less won't hurt….'

Méav smiled relieved and led them to a small guestroom.

'It isn't much, but make yourself comfortable,' she said with a warm smile.

'We will,' Clara said and smiled back at her. 'Goodnight!'

She settled in on her bed and looked at the Doctor.

'Sleep tight.' She smiled at him.

'You too.' The Doctor leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.


End file.
